PURELY COMMENTARY I
Population Puzzlement: Our Schools And Our Children
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
opulation statistics
compiled by the study
commissioned by the
Jewish Welfare Federation re-
main sensational even after
the numerous qualifications
that pursued the important
aspect of communal judging.
That 96,000 should
supersede a figure of 70,000
that had dominated the ex-
isting belief of our numerical
strength is in itself a matter
of conflicting views. The
earlier figures, and there
were many that often confus-
ed, were in many respects
speculative. The current ones
have the compulsion of
serious consideration because
the study was conducted by
recognized social scientists
with demographic skills.
With additional valuable
research soon to be made
public about our communal
functions, some of the popula-
tion figures bandied in earlier
years may have accumulative
importance. There have been
inconsistencies with doubts
raised over some occasional
declines and frequent ques-
tionable increases. Repor-
torial accounts in The Jewish
News treatments of the
available statistics have
covered the concerns involved.
One specific area, that of
education, continues to invite
research and the anticipated
additional study reports will
have immense value.
p
Selection of several years
with Jewish population
figures may add to the quan-
dry of doubts about accuracy.
There have not been too many
indications of authoritative
concerns about factualities.
Take these at random few in-
to the posed question:
50,000
1917-18 Detroit
1917-18 Michigan. 63,254
75,000
1927 Detroit
86,931
1927 Michigan
89,000
1960 Detroit
1960 Michigan. . .. 102,700
It seems rational to suggest
that some of the successions
indicated here are speculative
guesswork to a degree. A puz-
zle might arise over the total
population figure accredited
to this country. Some
demographers in Israel have
challenged the American
figure of six million and have
advanced the view that there
may be fewer than five
million in U.S. Jewry. Such
disputing cannot be brushed
aside without further study
and thorough research. The
job for social scientists is
immense.
A major question under
challenge at this point is why
the years 1917 and 1927 were
selected in the above analysis.
There is relevance to an-
ticipating one of perhaps
many communal commit-
ments to be devoted to the
Jewish Welfare Federation
studies which commenced
with the population report. It
is to the question of our
children and educational pro-
Bernard Isaacs:
Old questions.
gramming that this sug-
gested anticipation is
directed.
Reverting to the question
for utilizing the years 1917
and 1927, very important
Detroit educational ex-
periences are called into
action.
Revealing facts are resur-
rected from "The Jewish
Community Blue Book of
Detroit" which was published
by the Jewish Chronicle,
which preceded The Jewish
News. There were several
such Blue Books which I had
a share in compiling. In the
1923 edition I included this
account of the history of the
"United Hebrew Schools"
which appeared under the ti-
tie of the name of the school
system:
What is perhaps the most
interesting chapter in the
history of the Jewish com-
munity of Detroit is the
development and progress
of the United Hebrew
Schools. It was in the
spring of 1919 when the
first school on Wilkins
Street, known as the
Wilkins Talmud Torah was
completed . . . The school
was built to accommodate
600 children.
"Why such a pretentious
building? Isn't the old
Cheder good enough for
the loafers?" cried the eter-
nal morose. "Where in the
world will they get enough
children to fill such a
school?" criticized the
pessimist.
The school was opened
for registration on April 19,
1919, and before the expira-
tion of the month the
enrollment reached the 700
mark. Accommodations
thus had to be provided in
the assembly hall. The in-
side work of the school was
entrusted to Bernard
Isaacs, principal, who had
brought with him a staff of
experienced teachers from
New York and elsewhere.
The method of teaching is
known as the "Ivirth
b'Ivrith"method, the child
being taught the Hebrew
language the same as the
Englishman the English,
the Frenchman the
French, i.e., the real
natural way.
The Division Street
Talmud Torah, which was
then under the supervision
of the able educator, H.
Buchhalter, became a
branch of the Wilkins
Talmud Torah. With the
amalgamation of the Farn-
sworth Street Talmud
Torah and the El Moshe
School, the combined
Hebrew schools are today
known as the United
Hebrew Schools of Detroit.
The Farnsworth Street
Talmud Torah was origin-
ally directed by the Mogen
Abraham Synagogue and
the El Moshe School by the
El Moshe Synagogue. The
most recent school to join
the united system of
Talmud Torahs was the
school connected with the
Ahavath Achim Syna-
gogue on Westminster and
Delmar avenues.
Thus, all these schools
have been placed under
the same supervision, to be
guided by one group of
men. There is a uniformity
of study, the same method
and same textbooks being
used, so that when a child
moves from one neighbor-
hood to another he is
transferred to a similar
class in the same manner
as is done by the public
schools .. .
E. Rabinowitz, president
of the schools, and the en-
Continued on Page 50
Records Emphasize Importance Of Archiving
PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Editor Emeritus
nusual interest at-
taches to a task
undertaken by an
academician, a former
Detroiter, to provide a history
of the Philomathic Debating
Society and to reconstruct it
as part of our community.
U
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604 single copy
Vol. XCVII No. 5
2
March 30, 1990
FRIDAY, MARCH 30, 1990
Prof. Ralph Raimi, who
heads the sociology depart-
ment at the University of
Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.,
has undertaken the impor-
tant task of tracing the
fascinating role of an active
group of young people who
became famous in communi-
ty building and in American
and Jewish leadership. The
members were Jewish; their
purposes were universal, with
emphasis on the nation. They
were undoubtedly motivated
to organize as they did
because they were all Jews
and places in our society were
denied them by the anti-
Semitism of that era.
Philomathic was organized
in 1898 at Northern High
School. It functioned until the
mid-1960s. If the record of the
group's activities is not
reconstructed, an important
chapter of Michigan history
will be erased. Prof. Raimi is
searching for memorabilia
and documents (programs,
minutes of meetings, etc.),
and they will hopefully be
sent to him:
Prof. Ralph A. Raimi
Department of Sociology
University of Rochester
Rochester, N.Y. 14618.
Prof. Raimi earns support
for his research and devotion
to the Philomathic name be-
cause, in addition to his pro-
fessorial post in mathematics,
he has also become an author.
Dr. Raimi, who is the son of
Jacob Raimi, who has been an
activist here for many years
as a Hebraist and was known
under the firm name of Raimi
Curtains, pursued his father's
literary interests. Special at-
tention is merited for his
essays and fantasies entitled
Vested Interests. This is a
volume filled with humor and
the essays entitled "Forty
Years in the Desert" about
his uncle Zalman Raimi. This
is where Prof. Raimi shows
his skill in defining Jewish
legacies with knowledge in-
cluding even the halachic.
The entire volume is like a
chapter of Michigan history
filled with anecdotes about
family and community.
Primary in treating the
Raimi and Philomathic sub-
jects with great respect is the
urgency to make the func-
tions of the Michigan Jewish
Archives a cause to be ad-
vanced. We are losing a great
deal by failing to preserve all
of our available records. Many
more need to be researched
for their preservation. They
are endless. The United
Hebrew Schools' records
treated in the upper story on
this page are exemplary.
The Michigan Jewish
Historical Society is in the
process of establishing the
Michigan Jewish Archives as
one of its major objectives. It
is already receiving con-
siderable support. Judy Can-
Ralph Raimi:
Provides history.
for and Leonard Simons are
in the leadership toward this
objective. They should be
given all procurable
assistance. ❑